Cameron Announces Response Plan to Beheading of British Aid Worker

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain laid out a plan on Sunday to support American military action against ISIS.

CreditPool photo by John Stillwell

LONDON — Following an emergency meeting on Sunday with Britain’s top security and military officials to form a response to the beheading of a British aid worker by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron laid out a plan to support American military action in those two countries but made no commitment to a more vigorous military role.

“This is not about British combat troops on the ground,” Mr. Cameron said. “It is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat.” He said British Tornadoes and surveillance aircraft had been helping with logistics and intelligence-gathering in the region.

Britain and the United States are among the only nations in the world that have held to a hard-line, no-concessions policy when dealing with kidnappings by terrorist groups.

The execution of the aid worker, David Cawthorne Haines, was announced by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, in a video released Saturday night. It was a clear message to Britain, a vital ally of the United States as it builds an international coalition to target ISIS. The militant group has made major advances across Syria and northern Iraq in recent months.

In addition to supporting the United States, Mr. Cameron said on Sunday, Britain would support the Iraqi government and continue to aid the Kurdish regional government, which he described as holding the front line against ISIS.

Britain would also work through the United Nations to bolster international efforts against ISIS, and reinforce domestic counterterrorism efforts aimed at preventing attacks and identifying and rooting out those planning them.

Like President Obama, Mr. Cameron tried to highlight the direct national security threat that would come from not acting. He said ISIS and its recruits have planned “and continue to plan attacks across Europe and in our country.”

He pledged that the British government would do “whatever it takes” to stamp out the extremist group and keep Britain safe.

The ISIS video shows Mr. Haines kneeling on a bare hill in a landscape that appears identical to the one where two American journalists were killed by the group in back-to-back-executions in the past month. In the moments before his death, Mr. Haines, 44, is forced to read a script, in which he blames his country’s leaders for his killing.

“I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution,” he said. “You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State.” He added: “Unfortunately, it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament’s selfish decisions.”

The video ends with the black-clad executioner, speaking in English with what sounded like a British accent, identifying ISIS’s next victim as Alan Henning, another British citizen held by the group. A British journalist and two American aid workers are also being held by ISIS.

SITE Intelligence, which tracks jihadist groups, said the executioner appeared to be the same man who killed the American hostages, James Foley and Steven J. Sotloff.

Britain is one of a “core coalition” of nations announced as NATO leaders met in Wales this month and sought to devise a strategy to address ISIS’ growing threat, including plans to strengthen allies in Iraq and Syria and conduct airstrikes against the militants.

Mr. Obama last week announced a major expansion of the military campaign against ISIS, including airstrikes in Syria. The beheadings of Mr. Foley, reported on Aug. 19, and Mr. Sotloff, reported on Sept. 2, followed the start of a campaign of airstrikes against ISIS positions in Iraq.